The weaponization of agricultural trade has once again emerged as critical in the study of modern geopolitics due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Although Russia has used its wheat exports as a means of enhancing its geopolitical influence over countries in the Global South, evidence...

This paper examines the role of institutional factors in shaping taxpayer behaviour, using survey data from approximately 70,000 individuals across 29 Sub-Saharan African countries in 2011 and 2016. The results show that individuals are more likely to comply with tax obligations when they...

This paper estimates the macroeconomic effects of fiscal consolidations in sub-Saharan Africa using a newly constructed narrative dataset of discretionary fiscal policy actions for 14 countries over 1990–2024. The dataset, documented in Abdel-Latif et. al. (2025), identifies fiscal measures...

This paper introduces the first narrative-based dataset on fiscal consolidations for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Drawing on staff reports from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the period 1990-2024 and using an approach assisted by artificial intelligence (AI), the dataset...

This evaluation assesses the World Bank Group's contributions to supporting electricity access in Sub-Saharan Africa during 2015-24. Electricity access is an end user's ability to use an energy supply for the desired energy services. As such, electricity access includes both supply and demand...

This study examines the determinants of female labour force participation (FLFP) and female wage employment (FWE) of urban women in four SSA countries: Benin, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia. Using extensive micro-level data and a unified empirical framework, we investigate the multitude of...

This paper explores export and import dynamics in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), both regionally and across various country groups. The findings underscore the significant associations that domestic demand and exports have with import changes, albeit the magnitude of these associations varies across...

This paper presents a fundamental reassessment of the global human resources crisis in primary health care, using nationally representative survey data from 7,915 health facilities across 10 Sub-Saharan African countries. The reassessment consists of three main parts. First, in contrast to a...

Using a dynamic panel data analysis, we explore the factors that influence financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and other regions, using member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as a benchmark. We employ a system generalized methods of...

This article reviews quantitative research on unions and collective bargaining in Sub-Saharan Africa. It discusses the consequences of unions for wages, inequality, economic performance and employer-employee relations. The article also highlights the role of unions in society, a role that goes...

The aim of this paper is to analyze the spatial effect of regulatory regimes on the supply of electricity service in Sub-Saharan Africa. A spatial Durbin model (SDM) is used on data from 40 countries between 2000 and 2022. Our assessment focuses on how regulatory regimes affect energy losses,...

The political economy literature highlights the redistribution of resources to political support groups - often along regional or ethnic lines - as an axiom of political systems. In contrast to this dominant pattern, Kasara (2007) documents a puzzling result of discriminatory rent extraction by...

Can the exposure to civil war make people more motivated to pay taxes and (re)build the state? Our project examines this question in the context of Africa, a region where civil wars have frequently undermined state capacity. We move from the popular Tillian view of war-making as state-making to...

Most African countries are grappling with long-term fiscal slippages and escalating debt burdens due to high levels of non-concessional and overcapitalized borrowing. At the same time, the continent is paradoxically deemed a net creditor to the rest of the world owing to excessive capital...

This paper explores the impacts of politically empowering women on the connection between health occupation workforce (HOW) and inclusive growth (IG) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) over the period 2000-2019. Results show that: (a) HOW, women's political empowerment (WPE) and their combined effect...

This study investigates the effect of the relative size of agricultural exports on sustainable development across 46 sub-Saharan African countries between 1999 and 2020. Using data on adjusted net savings and sustainable development indices as proxies for sustainable development, the empirical...

This study employs the panel quantile regression (QR) technique to evaluate whether globalization threshold conditions are essential for achieving effective economic growth, utilizing data from 47 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries for the period from 2000 to 2021. The bootstrap simultaneous...

This paper validates a new set of behavioral measures for socioemotional skills across three Sub-Saharan African countries-Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, and Tanzania-and compares them to widely used self-reported measures. The behavioral measures demonstrate strong psychometric properties and are...

The interplay between energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon emissions remains a central focus in economic, energy and environmental policy research. While often assumed to be symmetric, changes in energy consumption do not always produce uniform effects on economic growth and carbon...

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) faces a confluence of critical challenges, including limited energy access, rapid urbanization, and the pursuit of inclusive economic growth, compounded by the global urgency of climate action. This study investigates the potential for SSA to transition toward renewable...

Access to electricity is important for delivering quality healthcare. This study explores innovative and comprehensive approaches to electrifying rural health facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa by integrating renewable energy solutions and innovative financial mechanisms. It assesses funding...

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to nearly half of the world's fragile and conflict-affected states, where weak institutions and social cohesion, governance failures, and economic instability trap millions in poverty. Some countries have transitioned out of extreme fragility by implementing sound...

Historical experience suggests that stabilizing debt across sub-Saharan Africa is still achievable in most cases, even though debt levels are elevated and vulnerabilities are high. Countries in the region, over recent decades, have often been able to consolidate (stabilize or reduce) their debt...

A hard-won recovery in sub-Saharan Africa has been overtaken by recent events. The sudden shift in the global outlook has clouded the region's short-term prospects and significantly compli¬cated policy making. After four years of crisis, sub-Saharan Africa's authorities had already faced a...

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) faces growing climate vulnerability, with rising temperatures and extreme weather threatening agriculture, food security, and economic growth. These challenges worsen poverty, fiscal constraints, and limited human capital investment. To address these risks, SSA countries...

This paper takes stock of developments and policy issues related to digital payments innovations across sub-Saharan African (SSA), including central bank digital currency (CBDC), fast payments systems (FPS), mobile money, and crypto assets, which are now at the forefront of policymakers'...

This paper employs various empirical methods to test the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) hypothesis in West and Central Africa, considering countries within the WAEMU, CEMAC, CFA, and ECOWAS currency zones and four possible numeraire currencies-U.S. dollar, euro, renminbi, and the CFA franc. Using...